This was a featured feature of Ubuntu 19.10, but it will only come halfway in the end. We are talking about being able to install Eoan Ermine using the ZFS file system as root, something that we can finally do, but with its main benefits disabled. So far, in the beta and in all the Daily Builds available, we see the same file systems as installation options, but something started to change yesterday so that we will soon see new too.
There is one thing we have to be clear about: yesterday everything necessary to include the option to install Ubuntu in the ZFS file system in Eoan Ermine was delivered, but that does not mean that it is already available. In fact, if we download the latest Ubuntu 19.10 Daily Build, we started Ubiquity and got to the point where we chose the type of installation, we still cannot format the drive as ZFS.
Ubuntu will soon be able to be installed using the ZFS file system
When can we do it? In the coming days, Canonical will launch the first Daily Build to include this option and, except for surprise, it will also be available on October 17, the release date of Ubuntu 19.10 Eoan Ermine.
Of course, we have to remember that the advanced functions of this file system will not be activated. What we will have in Eoan Ermine will be an initial support and we can use it, for example, to prepare the launch of an Ubuntu 20.04 that will include full support for ZFS as root.
Among the most outstanding functions that we will be able to enjoy when the support is complete, we will have the "snapshots" or checkpoints, something like Windows restore points that allow us to return to a past state in which everything worked as we would like. Personally, I think it will be an important advance, since we can do all the "tricks" we want knowing that we can reverse them without installing third-party software. In any case, we will still have to wait another six months to take advantage of the ZFS.
